Thoughts on football, books, and life in general

Football without fans is nothing

Photo taken from @spiritofshankly

Someone in the Liverpool Supporters’ Union is good with words. The title of this post is one of their slogans and for me it sums up a very important message. If fans stopped going to games, the football entertainment product being sold to Sky wouldn’t be worth much. I also like the name of the group, Spirit of Shankly; the acronym, SOS, seems very appropriate given the parlous state of football today.

There’s a great article* on the SOS website, about the huge amounts of money in football today and the rise in ticket prices that is making it hard for ordinary supporters to go to games. I’m not going to summarise the article because you should click on the link below and read it for yourself but I will give a quote.

“Supporters of all clubs can work together for the common good. Our unity will give us strength and will give us power. The time for divisions and tribalism will remain – in football stadiums, in pubs, on message boards and in work places. For now, we need to stand together and work together. If we don’t, we will never win. Football will change, beyond recognition. It will become a brand, a business more important than the sport. Supporters will walk away. And there will be nothing left.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

I hope that most Birmingham City fans feel the same way and would be willing to join with fans of any other club, including Villa, to support a common cause. And let’s face it; we have a lot more in common with Aston Villa fans than we do with the owners of our own club. Both sets of fans feel that some of the problems at our clubs stem from foreign owners who don’t care about the clubs as much as we do.

*Click here for link to Football without fans. It really would be nothing